Matt Brocklebank reacts to Sober being cut across the board for the Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham.
Sober was Sunday's big antepost mover, slashed to 20/1 (from 50s in places) for the Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham after a clear-cut win in a three-runner Sky Bet Moscow Flyer Novices' Hurdle at Punchestown.
With Ireland's current Supreme market principals El Cairos and Talk The Talk both having fallen at Leopardstown over Christmas, the former in a maiden and the latter with the Paddy Power Future Champions Novice Hurdle effectively in his grasp, there's a feeling that the picture for the Cheltenham Festival opener will remain up in the air until the Dublin Racing Festival's Tattersalls Ireland Novice Hurdle, won so impressively by Kopek Des Bordes last February - and several other star names before him.
That would still appear to be the case.
It's not that Sober didn't impress on the eye, last summer's Royal Ascot (Queen Alexandra) winner putting his previous hurdles run to good use in bouncing back from a less than fluent first jump to show his class on the relatively sharp, inside track at Punchestown.
He ultimately made the front-running, giant Gigginstown horse Road Exile, sent off the 8/11 favourite following strong late support, look slow, with the winner's stablemate Free Spirit shaping quite well in third despite looking to get a bit bogged down in the holding conditions.
But this clearly wasn't a deep Grade 2 and, after appearing to warm to the task having jammed the breaks on going to the first, he didn't really let fly at the final flight in the home straight either, for all that he had the race in safe keeping by that point.
It was no more than an 8/10 performance and the strong-staying Sober doesn't exactly strike me as Supreme material. It's been said before already this season but as far as the novice hurdlers go, bring on the DRF.
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